June 24, 2005: Headlines: Awards: Minorities: COS - Nepal: The Daily Camera: Nepal RPCV Jay Shah to be recognized with Franklin Award
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June 24, 2005: Headlines: Awards: Minorities: COS - Nepal: The Daily Camera: Nepal RPCV Jay Shah to be recognized with Franklin Award
Nepal RPCV Jay Shah to be recognized with Franklin Award
Shah, 28, taught math, English and creative arts in Nepal from 2000 to 2002. At a ceremony in Washington, D.C., he and 10 others received the Franklin H. Williams Award -- an honor dedicated to people of color who have served in the Peace Corps.
Nepal RPCV Jay Shah to be recognized with Franklin Award
CU student honored
Jay Shah spent two years in Nepal with the Peace Corps
By Brittany Anas
The Daily Camera
Boulder, Colo.
June 24, 2005
University of Colorado graduate student Jay Shah -- or Jay Sir as his Nepali students respectfully called him -- was honored Thursday with a national award for his service in the Peace Corps.
Shah, 28, taught math, English and creative arts in Nepal from 2000 to 2002. At a ceremony in Washington, D.C., he and 10 others received the Franklin H. Williams Award -- an honor dedicated to people of color who have served in the Peace Corps.
"There are so many diverse Peace Corps volunteers who are out there sharing their unique gifts throughout the world," Shah said.
There are more than 7,700 Peace Corps volunteers working in 72 countries in education, health, HIV and AIDS prevention and education, business development, agriculture and other fields. About 15 percent of Peace Corps volunteers are people of color, according to the organization.
"This award is an important one," said Jill Thiare, a spokeswoman for the regional Peace Corps office in Denver. "We have an increasing number of diverse volunteers who represent the true face of America."
Shah's parents are from India, and he grew up in Colorado. He received his undergraduate degree in chemical engineering from CU and is studying environmental engineering as a graduate student.
He continues to be involved with the Peace Corps by attending recruitment meetings and encouraging others to volunteer.
When Shah closes his eyes, he can travel back to the courtyard of the school in Eastern Nepal where he taught for two years. He remembers his students' morning ritual of singing in unison about the country's mountains and rivers.
He taught in overflowing classrooms -- 70 pupils to a class. Students sat on wooden benches. Some walked two hours to get to their tin-roofed school building, Shah said.
In the summer, classes started at 6 a.m. because it got too hot during the afternoon. Political unrest disrupted school schedules.
But what shocked Shah the most, he said, was the initial uncertainty his students had with him when he told them he wouldn't hit them if they answered questions incorrectly or misbehaved.
While Shah was drawing up lesson plans for his third- through sixth-graders, he also was learning.
"Everything you do has to do with people," Shah said. "What you are doing has an impact on someone else's life, and sometimes a lot of people's lives."
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Story Source: The Daily Camera
This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; Awards; Minorities; COS - Nepal
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